Act the future or become the past: Europe’s evolving energy markets

Take your visionary looking glass and picture what the future of energy will look like in 2050.

Start with interconnectivity, digitization and rapid technological advancement – enablers shaping consumer preferences – all seamlessly bound together by the utmost stringent need to meet climate change requirements for a sustainable growth, and to empower final customers.

Although we may have to wait a while for flying cars, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and big data are already transforming the world in ways past generations would have deemed futuristic. Energy will be no exception.

Geraki, Wind Power Plant, Greece

For sure, in the coming decades there will be need and room for massive innovation and transformation. In doing so, energy players will play a key role in a sector that is evolving rapidly both in technology and its business model.

To do so – and with the aim of, at best, leading the transition – Enel embraced a new vision, which took the lead from the most precious energy resource available: people, whether are they our colleagues who are working daily to actively reach these targets, or customers, our most important business partners.

Enel Open Power is a new way for people to manage energy, through smart meters and digitalization; and new uses of energy, such as electric mobility.

This is our vision. This is what we call Enel Open Power. A new vision intended to give energy access to more people, through safe and sustainable energy and through opening the world of energy to new technologies, pioneering the development and application of new technologies for more sustainable energy generation and distribution.

Enel Open Power is a new way for people to manage energy, through smart meters and digitalization; and new uses of energy, such as electric mobility. We embrace a new approach to partnerships, growing our network of partners in research, technology, new product development and marketing in order to build new solutions together.

These are ambitious goals and we are pursuing them with the passion of people who want to change the world.

In Europe, change has arrived and is indeed upon us. On November 30 2016 we stood in the present, but we sure-footedly stepped into the future as the new package “Clean Energy for all Europeans” clearly indicated what our future EU energy system has to become: decarbonized, fully integrated, competitive, and with customers at its centre.

The package initiates the renovation of the current design answering modern challenges and identifying the principles for delivering a decarbonized future in a cost-effective manner.

The package has defined a pragmatic path to achieve the goal of a UE integrated energy market in 2030, in which renewables and conventional sources are finally able to coexist, thanks to the inclusion of long-term price signals.

Achieving the decarbonization and decentralization of the electricity system requires massive investments in the coming years in terms of low-carbon generation technologies, demand side management (DSM) and smart grids.

The new package “Clean Energy for all Europeans” clearly indicated what our future EU energy system has to become: decarbonized, fully integrated, competitive, and with customers at its centre

The sheer scale of this challenge requires an adequate legal framework and a new mindset. First, we should embrace a holistic approach that allows long-term planning and short-term efficiencies. Investors should be able to rely on long-term price signals in terms of adequate hedging instruments and long-term planning for renewable auctions schemes.

In this pathway, Enel is fully committed to pulling its fair share of weight in the shaping of future energy, as we continue apace to achieve the group’s 2050 full decarbonization target.

To this end, we have embedded a new 2050 mindset focused on delivering our targets of overall industrial efficiency, growth and simplification, all while embedding sustainability in our strategies and throughout the value chain. Today we are focusing the power of synergies on the forward-looking areas of renewables, digitalization, smart grids, electric mobility and storage.

Through Enel’s looking glasses, the future is a time for adaptation and flexibility. Success will favor energy players keen on redefining themselves as successful navigators in the current sea of challenges and opportunities.